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REMEMBER the name Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, the rookie NRL forward billed as rugby league's next big thing - with a remarkable story to match his unique talent.
It involves his father being kidnapped by the Somalian militia in Africa, war-torn tours of Iraq, Kosovo and the killing fields in Cambodia. And a son who reached out for him to come home.
Waerea-Hargreaves, 20, is the gun Manly forward who Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler was fuming to see poached by the Sydney Roosters recently.
His father, Wayne Hargreaves, is a classified UN peacekeeper whose face is restricted from being published in our paper. Two years ago, after listening to one too many Scud missile raids while talking on a satellite telephone, Jared asked him to come home and help him become a man.
Hargreaves recalled: "I just said to him, look Dad, I'm going into my final year of school. I need a bit of help and your support. I just thought I needed a bit of guidance to help me along and get me through."
"One time I was talking to him on the phone and there was all these sirens going off in the background. I said, 'Dad, what's that?'. And he said, 'Oh, that's the scud missile sirens. They've just fired a Scud missile at our base camp. I've got to go and bury myself underground.' So, I was like, `Righto, I'll see you later'.''
His father, who has been a wonderful inspiration for Waerea-Hargreaves, takes up the story. "I really came home to stay home because Jared was really impressive in his line of deep thinking about when is enough enough,'' Wayne recalled.
"And I wanted to see him grow up. I've done seven of those wars, the rebuilding of nations ... but all the time I was conscious of the fact it was really to give Jared advantages in life. Jared may or may not have been inspired by me. But he has got his own drive.''
Waerea-Hargreaves is the rugby union convert who joined the Sea Eagles at the start of last season from the NSW Waratahs Academy. A talented junior golfer growing up in New Zealand, he has been likened to Sonny Bill Williams because of his explosive shoulder charges and his powerful running style.
After making his debut against the Broncos in round nine, he is on show against the Dragons at WIN Stadium today. At a Toyota Cup game in Penrith earlier this season, the boom youngster knocked out three Panthers with big shots before being warned to tone down his aggression by the referee.
Penrith recruitment manager Jim Jones was on the phone the next day wanting to sign him. But Roosters recruitment guru Peter O'Sullivan had already moved. Regarded as the best talent scout in the business, O'Sullivan spotted the rookie last season and marked him as the top emerging forward in the game. "He's going to be something special,'' O'Sullivan said during the week.
With the stories and discipline his father has helped instill, is it any wonder? In March 1994 when Waerea-Hargreaves was eight, his father was kidnapped by militia in Somalia. "I got taken prisoner of war in Somalia and held hostage for 16 days,'' Wayne said. "That must have been an enormous amount of pressure on the children."
"I didn't think I was going to survive it. Day to day they took a vote on whether they'd wait another 24 hours for any ransom. Our options for survival weren't good at all. In war zones, you need to be ready to meet your maker because you're not going to keep getting away with getting missed."
"My first home in Iraq was Saddam's palace in Baghdad,'' he said. "We slept in 50-degree heat on a great big marble floor inside a palace.''
Memories Wayne will never forget.
But he says the future is all about his son.
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